Credit: Henning Book

Harry Houdini commissioned Frederick Bushnell’s studio photography company to take semi-nude photos of him as he reenacted a San Francisco escape.

A pitchbook (above) and an Ebay auction (above) dates these images as July,1899.

A museum quality photo reproduction of the Ebay auction image with the Bushnell San Francisco logo in the lower right has been meticulously hand mounted on a collectible cabinet card reproduction (above) available from Fantasma Magic.

HHCE Collection

And last but not least, there is an undated cabinet card (above) from the Newark Photographer, J Rennie Smith, with the infamous photo of Houdini holding up handcuffs affixed to it. I acquired it from someone that deals in old postcards. Note: The photo does not have any logo on it, only the cabinet card.

J Rennie Smith was an active Newark photographer from 1868 thru the 1890s. He died October 4, 1905.

Ashbury Park Press 05 Oct 1905

Houdini ‘s first performance in Newark was April 23, 1906, where he escaped a jail at the Newark police headquarters, so…

Thoughts on a date for the cabinet card from Newark?

Update:
A cropped B&W image (with a snippet of Bushnell logo) first appeared in Mahatma Vol 3 No. 7 New York, Brooklyn Borough , January 1900 magazine. Patrick Culliton’s ‘Tao of Houdini’ book has a B&W image that closely matches the albumen print on my cabinet card; and while you can’t see it in the book, the original in Kevin Conolly’s collection appears to have a faint Bushnell logo. My albumen print may have lost this Bushnell logo highlight detail over time.

I became a member of the Houdini Historical Center in 1995 and was fortunate enough to visit the Houdini Historical Center Museum in Appleton Wisconsin in 1998, where I picked up some of the many items found in their catalog.

Thought it would be fun to share pages from the catalog over a series of posts, along with the catalog items in my collection.  We previously looked at Pages 1 and 2. Today we look at Page 3.

Catalog items in HHCE Collection:

Last year John Cox at Wild About Houdini did an excellent deep dive post on the King of Cards Poster and its reproductions:

• Everyone’s first Houdini poster

That led me to search for and eventually find for my collection, the extremely rare 1961 (first reproduction) King of Cards poster by Tommy Windsor.

The poster came folded up into an insurance policy,

along with Tommy Windsor’s Patter for an effect,

And 12 ways to use the Houdini Posters.

I became a member of the Houdini Historical Center in 1995 and was fortunate enough to visit the Houdini Historical Center Museum in Appleton Wisconsin in 1998, where I picked up some of the many items found in their catalog.

Thought it would be fun to share pages from the catalog over a series of posts, along with the catalog items in my collection.  We previously looked at Page 1. Today we look at Page 2.

Catalog items in HHCE Collection:

I became a member of the Houdini Historical Center in 1995 and was fortunate enough to visit the Houdini Historical Center Museum in Appleton Wisconsin in 1998, where I picked up some of the many items found in their catalog.

Thought it would be fun to share pages from the catalog over a series of posts, along with the catalog items in my collection.

Page 1

Catalog items in HHCE Collection:

The following is the description of the above book that sold at Raptis Rare Books:

New York: E.P. Dutton & Company, 1922.

 

First edition, second printing of Houdini’s guide to the whole art of performing with paper. Octavo, original cloth, full color frontispiece, illustrated with engravings and figures within the text. Warmly signed by the author on the front free endpaper, “With best wishes for a merry xmas & Happy New Year xmas 1924 Houdini.” In very good condition with a strong signature from Houdini. Rare and desirable.

Houdini’s Paper Magic was first published in April 1922. Below are a couple ads from the Sphinx.

While Houdini published numerous books throughout his career, there were some books on Magic, Escape, Superstition, and Witchcraft that never got published as planned due to his untimely death.  More info on these works can be found in The Zanetti Mystery Plus candidates for ghostwriting the story that was released on Christmas Day.

H A P P Y  N E W  Y E A R !

H A P P Y  H O L I D A Y S !

The Zanetti Mystery: Plus candidates for ghostwriting the story is now available on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk

Product Description:

Harry Houdini wrote a short novel in 1925, a romantic detective thriller, called ‘The Zanetti Mystery’ (ghostwritten of course). The short novel (8 Chapters) was serialized over eight weeks in various Newspapers, but was never published in book form until now.
The story nicely combines Houdini’s love of mystery and detective fiction with his crusade against fraudulent mediums. The character of Atrois Zanetti might also be seen as the dark side of Houdini; what the magician feared he could have become had he remained in the business of spiritualist trickery. In fact, Houdini would sometimes play the character of Zanetti on stage during his exposure act.
In addition to sharing the story with original illustrations, Joe M. Notaro shares his research on candidates (Walter B. Gibson, H.P. Lovecraft, C.M. Eddy Jr., Rose Mackenberg, Fulton Oursler, and Arthur B. Reeve) for helping Houdini write the story, along with a bibliography of works by Houdini.

Bonus:

2021 marks the 10 year anniversary for HHCE

Ten years ago on Xmas Day (2011), I started Harry Houdini Circumstantial Evidence (HHCE) with the following post:

• See Houdini in “The Grim Game” on Xmas Day

And I have posted weekly ever since.  Below are links looking back at the highlights of each year:

• 2012
• 2013
• 2014
• 2015
  • Part I – The Year of The Grim Game
  • Part II – Other Highlights
• 2016
  • Part 1 – The Year of The Master Mystery 
  • Part 2 – The Year of Lovecraft, Eddy and The Cancer of Superstition
• 2017
• 2018
  • The Year of Terror Island
• 2019
• 2020
• 2021
  • Timeline for Houdini Water Torture Cell(s)
  • Search for Tatler Handcuff given to W.W. Durbin leads to Abbotts?
  • Houdini and Teddy Roosevelt Group Picture plus one
  • Herbert Allingham
    • Jorkins Co (aka The Duffer, Detective)
    • The Amazing Exploits of Houdini
    • Houdini’s School Days
      • Summary (9/18/1920 to 4/2/1921)
  • Houdini’s Message From The Clouds – 101 years ago
  • Conventions
    • HHCE Attends his first Magic Collectors Expo
    • NEMCA 2021 VIRTUAL YANKEE GATHERING
  • Weird Tales
    • Now Rare Weird Tales Girasol Collectibles
    • Weird Tales March 1924
    • Weird Tales April 1924 – Ask Houdini
    • Weird Tales May 1924 – Ask Houdini
    • Houdini’s Weird Tales Ghostwriters

Thanks for your support!

Harry Houdini wrote a short novel in 1925, a romantic detective thriller, called ‘The Zanetti Mystery’ (ghostwritten of course). The short novel (8 Chapters) was serialized over eight weeks in various Newspapers, but was never published in book form until now.
In addition to sharing the story with original illustrations, I will share my research on candidates for helping Houdini write the story.

Related:

• Houdini’s Weird Tales Ghostwriters